Peek Mobile E-mail Device (Cherry) - AB01CH

Why would someone want to buy this?

6/4/2009

Riddle me this Batman!

What would someone want to buy this in this day any age of Blackberries, IPhones, G1s, and soon to be released Pre?

I don't understand what someone would want to carry two separate devices for phone and email? Not to mention web surfing.

Sorry, but I am not buying it.

I give it two stars because the interface looks very nice.

Limited application/customer service very poor

5/16/2009

Peek much more limiting than I expected for the monthly cost. Updates came 4-5 hours apart much too late to depend on for business or family needs.

Worst of all was the customer service rep's ability to solve problems...everything had "to be checked with corporate". Really nice people, but I finally gave up and canceled the service.

Ed

Hate to put it down!

5/6/2009

I bought mine about 3 weeks ago. I have not let go of this since then. For the price for unlimited e-mail and text messaging is just priced right. Instead of a blackberry or whatever(too expensive). I get messages where ever. I have set-up my business e-mails to come to my peek. So, I don't have to get my laptop and check messages. I think the software could be polished better. I think in time that will happen.

BETTER THAN EXPECTED

4/25/2009

AT FIRST IT WAS SLIGHTLY DIFFICULT TO GET SET UP,THEN ONCE CUSTOMER SUPPORT ANSWERED A FEW QUESTIONS MY DAUGHTER WAS ON HER WAY TO TEXTING AND RECEIVING HER EMAILS... SHE USES THE PEEK FOR CONTACTING ME INSTEAD OF THE CELL. THE TURN AROUND IN RECEIVING RESPONSES BACK WAS LESS THAN A MINUTE.

Discontinuing service after five months -- product just not ready for prime time

3/16/2009

I purchased a Peek last year based on a favorable review in the Wall Street Journal. I was looking for a mobile email solution to replace my Blackberry (which was provided by my company and stayed behind when I changed jobs). I liked several aspects of the Peek, relative to a Blackberry or other smartphones. In a nutshell:

+ The device does not require a service contract. If you don't like it, you can discontinue the service. You can also reactivate the service later if you choose to. Peek service offers an unprecedented level of flexibility.

+ Having a separate device for email, rather than a single smartphone for both voice and email, appealed to me. I carry my cell phone all the time, but don't always need email. The Peek allowed me to carry a very small cell phone all the time and a larger email device only when I needed it.

+ The full keyboard on the Peek, which reminds me of the original Blackberry, is much more efficient than trying to tap out messages on a cell phone keypad.

+ Peek email service is relatively cheap, at $20 per month.

+ The Peek allowed me to synch up with three separate email accounts and did not require forwarding copies of messages to the device like some solutions do.

That was the promise. I would still love the Peek if the device had lived up to that promise. In reality, unfortunately, the value of the device was undercut badly by a series of serious reliability and quality problems. Specifically:

- The device very often cannot get a radio signal. This is obviously a huge issue. As another reviewer pointed out, coverage is very spotty.

- The Peek routinely stops receiving messages, but it provides no indication that this has happened. As a result, you don't know whether you haven't received any messages, or whether people have been sending you messages but the Peek just doesn't know it. On multiple occasions, I missed important messages because the Peek looked like it was active but in fact had stopped receiving messages. An email message from the Peek CEO to all users said that best way to make sure you had received all messages was to turn the device off and back on, but rebooting the device all throughout the day just isn't practical. This reliability issue was a real show stopper for me.

- There can be a significant delay (even when the device is working) between when messages are sent and when they arrive on the Peek.

- The device itself, while slim and with a nice bright screen, has significant quality issues. The cursor wheel that controls the device suffers from a noticeable lag -- you have to spin it and spin it before the cursor starts to move. In addition to being an annoyance (in this day and age, we expect electronics devices to respond without a lag), it can cause real problems. For example, on multiple occasions I unintentionally deleted or sent messages because I clicked the cursor wheel a second time, thinking that I hadn't clicked it all the way the first time. To get an idea of what it's like trying to use the Peek cursor wheel (which is key to using the Peek), imagine how hard it would be to use your computer if clicking on an object on screen with your mouse sometimes did what you wanted, sometimes didn't, and sometimes did but with a three-second delay. It can cause real problems day to day.

- The Peeksters (as the employees at Peek call themselves) are wonderful folks who mean well, but they don't seem to have the capacity to follow up on problems effectively. In trying to solve the reliability problems, I had multiple individuals at Peek offer to do something then drop the ball and not follow through.

After five months of using the device and hoping that things would get better, I finally decided to cut my losses and discontinue the service. I hope Peek solves these quality problems. They seem like great folks and the Peek is a neat concept, but the problems are serious enough that Peek email just isn't worth the price at this point.